Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Andeanfx" <andeanfx@midrivers.com>]

Well, I'm not sure which of the three suggestions to work with.  Probably 
add organic matter.  :-)

We do not have our own compost and are renting with the hope of moving so 
setting up here is not really an option.  Last year we put some aged horse 
manure on it and there seemed to be no gain.  I am wondering if we were not 
a victim of the weed free hay.

I am a bit gun shy so it seems at this point the best options are to try to 
find some 'useable compost or aged manure or leave it as is and take what we 
get from it??????  Dean


Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken. - Oscar Wilde


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
To: <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, March 22, 2010 12:08 PM
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] soil testing


> Yep, make your own compost is probably still the safest advice. BTW I 
> understand there are no organic standards for compost. They can call it 
> natural or anything that sells. And what I see usually says "forest 
> products". Which means slow to break down and depletes nitrogen. Maybe OK 
> for mulch?
>
> paul tradingpost@lobo.net
>
> *********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
>
> On 3/21/2010 at 7:11 PM yarrow@sfo.com wrote:
>
> > Quoting Ken Hargesheimer <minifarms2@yahoo.com>:
> > > ...I had [a soil test] and 2 yrs later another one. My opinion is
> > > that it is a  poor use of money. Do three things and do not worry
> > > about the soil.
> > >
> > > 1. Add organic matter
> > > 2.Add organic matter
> > > 3.Add organic matter
> > I agree that adding organic matter is the key. But I know of a local
> > organic gardener and garden-book writer who bought compost from the
> > same source she'd been buying it for years, except one year it killed
> > her plants. So she had it tested and found out it contained toxins
> > (probably one of the three nondegradable poisons that Paul originally
> > mentioned -- I've been hearing the clopyralid warnings for years).
> > Compost producers are required to test their products, afaik -- if in
> > doubt, ask for the test results before buying. Or better,  make your
> > own and don't add ingredients whose source you don't know.
> >
> > I add kitchen waste from 1-3 households to my compost, so that is my
> > main source of unidentified inputs. Oh, and the occasional bagful of
> > coffee grounds from local coffee shops. And the bales of hay that are
> > donated to the community garden in the fall. But besides that, my
> > compost inputs are garden waste from organic gardens.
> >
> >
> >
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